Elderly PB couple found slain in burning house
Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2008
PINE BLUFF — Authorities responding to a house fire early Wednesday found an elderly couple dead from unrelated trauma and the couple’s car missing, police said.
Police identified the victims as Cleophus Boyd, 79, and his wife, Minnie Boyd, 76.
Police we re searching Wednesday for a blue, four-door 1990 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a handicap license plate, number 195070. The vehicle was missing from the couple’s home at East 32 nd Avenue and South Pennsylvania Street.
Pine Bluff Police Chief John Howell said police have initiated a homicide investigation but had no suspects by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Mary Lowe, Cleophus Boyd’s first cousin, said she heard the news Wednesday from her niece.
“I had to sit on my bed for 45 minutes in shock,” Lowe said. “I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt them. They didn’t bother anyone. They were quiet people, good neighbors. They’d give you the shirts off their backs.” Shauwn Howell, a spokesman for Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services, said Wednesday afternoon that the cause of the fire was still unknown.
Police and firefighters responded to the fire shortly before 3 a.m. While firefighters worked to contain the fire, the couple’s bodies were discovered in the home, according to a news release from the Pine Bluff Police Department.
By Wednesday afternoon, crime-scene technicians were taking photos of evidence and dusting for fingerprints on a garbage can near a shed behind the charred residence.
Anyone with information that may lead to an arrest can call the Pine Bluff Police Department detective division at (870 ) 543-5111, the news release said.
News of Wednesday’s fire and deaths prompted one pastor in the area to release a statement to the media.
Jesse C. Turner, pastor at Elm Grove Baptist Church and executive director of the Interested Citizens for Voter Registration, said it was a “sad day in Pine Bluff” and called on a zero-tolerance crackdown against crime in the city.
He called on area pastors to leave anonymous-tip boxes at churches to encourage residents to turn in information about that case and others.
“The [Interested Citizens for Voter Registration ] Respect for Life Initiative calls on citizens in the city to come forward to help the police department bring to justice the person or persons responsible for the senseless and outrageous act which occurred in this city,” Turner said in the statement.
“The time has come for a crack down on criminals in this city and the city leaders should do all they can to give the police department what they need to reclaim safety in Pine Bluff and remove the thugs from off the streets,” Turner continued.
Several other homes in Pine Bluff have burned recently although there is nothing linking the fires.
On Aug. 19, Derek Dorn was killed in a house fire, and his parents, Charles and Maurice Dorn, were seriously injured before a Pine Bluff police officer was able to help rescue them from the burning home at 817 Hickory St. The cause of that fire is still unknown, authorities said.
The Dorns were reported to still be in the hospital Wednesday recovering from injuries and burns. Friends and family have set up the Charles Dorn Donation Fund to help pay for medical expenses. Residents can make donations at Simmons First National Bank. On Aug. 14, four vacant homes in the University Park area burned, and authorities were investigating those as arson. In May, a fire damaged four Pine Bluff transit buses and a dormitory caught fire at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, displacing 110 students and injuring three. Howell said authorities are trying to curb arson-related house fires and inform the public of preventative measures. “It’s something we’re monitoring wholeheartedly right now,” he said.
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